spalding timeline

1898

On June 20, the plan of Bishop John Lancaster Spalding of Peoria was announced: to build a school on the corner of Jackson and Madison in Peoria. A highly ornamental French Renaissance structure was erected. The $60,000 gray stone building measured 80x130 ft and had three stories. It was Bishop Spalding’s gift to the Peoria Diocese. The bishop wished to name the school St. Mary’s College. However, the diocesan clergy objected that there were “too many St. Mary’s” already. The bishop then named it Spalding Institute for his brother, Rev. Benedict J. Spalding, the builder of the Cathedral, who died at the age of thirty-seven.

1899

On the morning of September 5, the school was open to pupils, with accommodations sufficient for 350 boys.

December 6 was the opening of Spalding Institute with sixty-four students enrolled. It was a model high school and the first Catholic high school for boys in the West, and only the second in the United States. The tuition requirement was two, three, or four dollars monthly. All the royalties from the bishop’s books went to the Spalding Institute. The school was staffed by the Brothers or Mary from Dayton, Ohio. They were excellent teachers, emphasizing discipline. The bishop learned that two of them, including the first principal, Brother Gerald Mueller, were only in their late twenties. He remarked, “Well, God loves little children, and we hope his blessing will be upon you.”

1901

The first six students graduated from Spalding.

1902

On his Silver Jubilee, Bishop Spalding was presented with an unusual gift from Bishop James Ryan of Alton, once a priest of the Diocese of Peoria. Artistic twin statues of Science and Religion were placed above the entrance of Spalding Institute. Hewn out of snow-white Bedford stone, the statues were almost eight feet tall, and both portrayed as female figures. SCIENCE is bearing in her left hand an open book and in her right a tufted quill, while at her feet are set a layer of books, surmounted by a terrestrial globe. RELIGION is depicted with flowing robes, supporting with her right hand a large cross and with her left two tablets of the Mosaic law.

1903

Spalding students made their first football team. Also, an 11-piece Institute Orchestra, Spalding Literary Club, and first school newspaper. The Purple and White were created.

1905

Due to rapid expansion of Peoria parochial schools, the preparatory class at Spalding was dropped. The school with the faculty of four would serve high school boys exclusively.

1906

Basketball became extremely popular. At the personal wish of Bishop Spalding, the school recreation room was altered, so that a basketball game could be played. A sum of $1,500 was spent to lower the floor four feet, recondition the ceiling, and install a balcony for spectators.

1920

La Boys Association for athletics started, with a new gym prospect.

1933

237 students were enrolled and forty-three graduated. The Brothers of Mary left Spalding Institute, and 10 Benedictines from St. Bede in Peru, IL, arrived to staff it. Bishop Joseph H. Schlarman from his own pocket built a faculty residence close to the school. A school oratory (small chapel) was also created.

1941

To save on expenses, the Spalding yearbook joined with the Academy of Our Lady, a girls’ high school located across the street.

1947

At the cost of $209,622, a 12-room Schlarman Annex was completed, so the original building was doubled. The addition had three floors of classrooms (each with its own thermostat), chemistry and biology labs, and student lockers.

1948

Spalding enrollment was 262 students.

1949

Spalding Institute introduced its first Homecoming.

1950

A Spalding Gym groundbreaking and fundraising took place. The Benedictine faculty of nineteen left the school and fourteen clerics of St. Viator’s from Bourbonnais, IL, assumed the administration. Spalding Institute activities and those of Academy of Our Lady joined increasingly.

1953

Bishop William E. Cousins dedicated a new state-of-the-art gymnasium, a subject of envy throughout the city. It included a basketball court with seats for 3,000 spectators, six bowling alleys, dining hall, a youth center, and a 1,600-seat auditorium. The facility was open for social events of twelve local parochial schools.

1955

Spalding Institute chapel moved from the second floor to the first. The library moved to the old music room, and the music room to the old study hall. There were nine hundred students enrolled in both Spalding and the Academy of Our Lady together.

1967

The North Central Evaluation Team recommended joining Spalding Institute with Academy of Our Lady.

1973

Academy of Our Lady and Spalding consolidated into a co-ed high school under the common name Academy of Our Lady/Spalding Institute (AOL/Spalding). Both schools operated as one.

1979

The Viatorians departed from Spalding Institute. The Peoria Catholic Board of Higher Education leased the building from the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, which resulted in the two schools utilizing the same campus with two co-principals and a combined staff of fifty-seven teachers.

1987

To ensure the safety of the students at Academy/Spalding, Bishop Edward O’Rourke closed off the entire Spalding block, then called it the Spalding Mall.

1988

Academy of Our Lady/Spalding Institute closed and merged with Bergan High School to create Peoria Notre Dame High School. Both campuses were used for the first year before the final transfer to the Bergan High School campus.

1989

At the end of the school year, Academy/Spalding school campus officially closed.

1990

Spalding Institute building was renovated for use by Cursillo/TEC.

2007

In February, the last game took place at the Spalding gym. Shortly afterward, the gym was demolished to make room for the new Spalding Pastoral Center to be built in 2008.

2022

Cursillo/TEC decided to leave the Spalding Institute building and moved its offices and facilities to the former convent at Holy Family Parish in Peoria.

2025

On October 19, a groundbreaking took place for the new SHEEN EXPERIENCE center, where faith, history, and innovation will meet to inspire generations.